For example, in an analog surface-wave broadcast system, it has been proposed that in order to notify viewers of programs provided by broadcast stations, data indicating contents of each of the programs called Electronic Program Guide information (hereinafter referred to as EPG data) should be delivered from a specific one of the broadcast stations periodically. The EPG data comprises information pieces such as a program title, a broadcast date, a broadcast channel, a program explanation and provides a material for the viewers when they determine which one of the programs they view.
In this case, an Integrated Receiver Decoder (IRD) receives EPG data sent periodically from a broadcast station that transmits the EPG data and stores it in a memory, to read out the EPG data from the memory in response to display operations of a viewer so that it may be displayed on an external monitor. It is thus possible for the viewer to determine a program he or she would like to see with visually observing the EPG data displayed on the monitor.
As described above, however, in conventional IRD wherein the EPG data is received and stored in the memory, it has been proposed that if a user has set beforehand program selection conditions each comprising, for example, a genre, a keyword, a time zone, etc., he or she would search the EPG data for a program that matches the program selection condition to record, by subscription, program information of the matched program in a recording medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD).
When a keyword used to set the program selection condition is fixed, it is difficult to set a program selection condition well suited for selecting a user-desired program. A keyword the user would like to use when he or she selects a program varies with the season. Keywords that are expected to be used frequently are, for example, “spring”, “cherry blossoms”, “picnic”, etc., in the case of spring, and “summer”, “swimming”, “diet”, etc. in the case of summer.
To acquire keywords used to set the program selection conditions, it may be thought that input means such as a keyboard should be provided. However, in such a case, it is necessary to provide the keyboard as well as to have, for example, a dictionary function required for kanji character conversion, which leads to a problem of cost increase of the apparatus itself.